Process of manufacturing plug-tobacco



(No Model.) J. H WIGHT.

Process of Manufacturing Plug Tobacco.

No. 241,768. I Patented May 17,1881.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACOB H. WVIGHT, ()F BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING PLUG-TOBACCO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 241,768, dated May 17, 1881. Application filed January 24, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JACOB H. WIGHT, of

a the city of Baltimore and State of Maryland,

- that one in which the plugs are completed by their compression within a packing boxorcase, the said plugs immediately before their introduction to the packing-case being in an unfinished condition, they at that time consisting merely of a roll, twist, .or bundle of cured tobacco-leaves treated with licorice and sweetening-matter.

The said invention relates specially to that part of the above-described process which consists in the compression of the unfinished plugs within the packing box or case to give them the proper consistency and form a compact mass of tobacco, which, after the box or case is opened, may be exposed for a considerable period of time to the action of the air without being inj uriously affected thereby.

My improvement consists in placing in the packing case or box alternate layers of unfinished plugs and waxed paper or other suitable waxed material and subjecting the whole to a heavy pressure. The object of introducing waxed paper between the layers of plugs is to prevent the sticking together of the layers,

while at the same time the plugs are not prevented from taking the same shape that they would take if no separating material were used.

The accompanying drawing, forming a part hereof, is a section of a box of tobacco packed in accordance with my invention.

In the said drawing, A represents the box' or case, and B and 0, respectively, the layers of tobacco and the waxed separating material.

In carrying out my invention I place in the box or case the waxed paper and the tobacco in alternate layers, and then subject the whole to a heavy pressure to form a compact mass. The space left in the box or case after the compressing operation is filled with additional layers of waxed material and tobacco and the compression repeated. This process is continued until the case is filled.

I am aware that tin-foil has been used to separate the layers of tobacco in a box; but sheets of all the baser metals, when brought into contact with the juice expressed from tobacco in the operation of packing the same, are affected by it, andcompounds are formed which, if not injurious to health, are objectionable in many ways. Paraffine-the material which I preferably use-is unaffected by the juice of tobacco, and gives a bright. glossy surface to the tobacco, which cannot be obtained to the same extent by the use of tinfoil. Further, paraffiue has no tendency to adhere to the plugs as the same are removed from the box.

I am also aware that finished plugs orblocks of tobacco have been wrapped in waxed paper and packed loosely in boxes, and that candles have been separated in boxes by paraffinepaper, and that layer-raisins have been divided in a box into parcels, and that caramels and candies have been wrapped in paraffinepaper; but in all the above methods of using paraffine-paper it is applied to completed articles of manufacture or to natural productions,

it in no case being used in the manufacture of an article to modify the process or in any way affect the condition of the product at the end of the manufacturing process. In my invention the waxed sheets prevent adhesion of the layers of plugs when the same are subjected to a compressing strain; they brighten the surface of the plugs, and the juice, licorice, &c., is prevented from passing from one layer to another; and they do not, like sheets of tinfoil, adhere to the plugs and require to be taken off with force, and they are not in any manner acted upon by the juices of tobacco, as is the case with tin-foil.

I claim as my invention- As an improvement in the manufacture of plug-tobacco, the process of packing which consists in placing within a box alternate layers 

